The 4000 litre digester/3000 litre gas holder CBS installed CARE International's kitchen at their head office in DSM

The installation of a 4000/3000 Compact Biogas System was completed at in Care International in Tanzania’s head office in November.   The CBS was installed at the staff kitchen and is hoped to be a viable alternative for the kitchen staff that had been using charcoal to cook lunch meals.

The aim of the installation is to eliminate the need for charcoal in the kitchen and save the kitchen the cost of purchasing bags of charcoal, which is costing them a minimum of 40,000 Tanzanian Shillings per month (30 USD).

CARE’s decision to install the CBS at their office also sets an important example to other institutions demonstrating that viable alternatives are available to reduce charcoal consumption, deal with urban organic waste and save money.

ARTI-TZ staff installed the system in October and after a month of training and troubleshooting handed over the system to the kitchen staff.  Training included teaching the staff about feeding, removing moisture from the main line, clearing up blockages in the feed pipe and proper use of the overflow effluent.

The team also supervised the cooking of lunch to determine how long the gas would last using a double burner cook stove.

After some initial trouble shooting the kitchen staff are getting accustomed to using the biogas and feeding and maintaining the system

After more than 2 hours the meals were cooked and the gas tank had only sunk half way.

While not all the staff were in the office the day it was tested we are keeping in communication with the kitchen staff to get some valuable feedback on the systems performance and to hear how much they have saved from not buying charcoal.

The final touch to the installation was to clean up the site around the CBS, removing garbage and sweeping leaves so that visitors can come and see the system for themselves, learn how it works and hopefully consider installing one in their home or institution.

Members of the Mbagala Development Association receive instruction from ARTI-TZ

Members of the Mbagala Development Association invested in a charcoal kiln, manual briquettes extruder and training in October/November of this year.  The groups 6 member governing body visited the ARTI-TZ office after hearing about the briquetting technology in the media.

Mbagala Development Association preparing the kiln for a char cycle

After several visits and some research on the subject the group decided to invest in the equipment and training.  In November, ARTI-TZ trainer, Kennedy Mremi delivered the kiln to their site in Mbagala and spent a full day training them on how to pyrolyze dry biomass and convert the char powder into briquettes.

Initially the group will use the briquettes in their own home until the become comfortable with their use.  Once theyare accustomed to the briquettes they will begin to market them in their community.  The group will do this through a sensitization program.

Trainees remove the drums once pyrolyzation is complete

ARTI-TZ will provide additional support in terms of training on packaging, branding, marketing, distribution and general business development.

Mbagala Development Associations first charcoal briquettes

Nachiket Potnis inspecting a CBS installation in Mbagala, DSM

Paul Rippey from Energy Links visited the ARTI-TZ in October to conduct an interview with Nachiket W. Potnis, ARTI-TZ Executive Director. The discussion focused on our Compact Biogas System and our efforts to promote it as a viable energy alternative to urban and semi-urban consumers. For the full interview, http://www.fieldsupportlwa.org/energylinks.